The Third Wish
by dansemacabre
Summary: When Sarah Williams was twenty one, the Goblin King decided to grant her another wish. JS.  Short story in four chapters.  COMPLETE.
1. Part One

**Author's Note: **_This was originally written by request for **Tallulah99**, who insisted upon stringent guidelines. No death, she said. No angst or peril, she said. It must be fluffy, romantic, and it had to have a happy ending. After much wailing and teeth-gnashing on my part, I grudgingly complied. This is the end result. Everyone who's ever asked me if I would ever write something happy (**Solea**...), please accept this wretched offering. Just don't think I'll make a habit of it.  
_

_Warning: This story has no death and virtually no angst. It is fluff and HEA-compliant.  
_

_But it has a little bit of peril.  
_

**Summary:**_ When Sarah Williams was twenty-one, the Goblin King decided to grant her another wish._

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_**  
**_

**The Third Wish**

It rained all day, a warm summer rain that spilled over the gutters in quicksilver sheets. Sarah opened the kitchen window just a few inches, breathing in the scent of fresh cut grass. She listened to the rumbles of thunder in the distance, rainfall pattering on the roof a continuous murmur in the background. In the back yard beneath the apple tree was a widening pool, droplets dimpling the surface and rippling outward.

All the afternoon's heat had been washed away and it was cool for late June. Sarah searched the hall closet for her father's cardigan, pulling it on over her t-shirt and rolling up the cuffs. Running down the front were buttons the color of old pennies, each one worn thin as a coin. Leaning against the counter, she rubbed one between thumb and forefinger.

_Make a wish._

In the empty kitchen with pale, cloud-filtered light, the sweater didn't seem quite warm enough.

_And besides,_ thought Sarah--

"Wishes don't come true."

She filled the kettle and set it on the stovetop, the gas burner roaring to life with the click of a knob. The kitchen seemed warmer already. Merlin dozed in the corner, his shaggy head resting against the pantry door. He was no longer a puppy to be frightened by thunder and lightning, even though he'd romped and barked like one when she'd returned home for summer vacation. Sarah knelt on the cool black and white tiles, bare feet curled up beneath her.

"How can you sleep through all this?" she scolded him softly, "I remember when you used to hide under my bed during a storm."

She dug her fingers into his thick coat, untangling a snarl of fur on his back. Merlin always needed brushing. Sounding a soft, whuffling bark, the sheepdog frantically paddled all four legs in the air as if chasing squirrels in his sleep. Sarah muffled her giggles. How she'd missed him! Next year, she promised herself, she'd find an apartment off campus and take him with her.

The kettle interrupted her thoughts and Sarah took it off the burner before its high-pitched whistle could wake Merlin. She let the tea steep, cupping her hands around the sides of the mug for warmth.

With Toby at camp and father and Karen on their annual cruise, the house felt too empty. She missed hearing her little brother running around, and the only noise at night was the creaking of the house as it settled. Not even her summer job at the bookstore could fill all the hours, and weekends lasted forever.

Sarah blew on her tea to cool it. _Enough with the moping._

Tonight she'd order in Chinese food. She'd watch old movies on cable and read on the couch until she fell asleep. She wouldn't even go upstairs to bed. The living room was comfortable enough and more importantly, it had only one large bay window facing the well-lit street.

She walked to it now with her mug of tea in hand, settling herself on the cushioned ledge and resting her forehead against the cool glass. Rain dripped from the leaves of the oak tree outside, streaking the windowpane in endless wet tracks. It distorted the familiar view, all the colors mingled like the brush strokes of an oil painting. Dark green leaves framed the sky, the clouds a swirling mist above.

Sarah wondered if it would rain all night and if the fog would block the moon from sight. She half-hoped it would.

* * *

Jareth watched the girl from the comfort of his study, her image neatly contained in the shining sphere before him. The firelight caught it as he deftly rolled the crystal back and forth along the length of his arm, a spinning prism that refracted tiny rainbows across the chamber walls. Yet it was not the bright bands of color that mesmerized him, but what he saw within. 

The girl sat curled up in the window ledge, her tea growing cold as she looked out over the empty streets. Her gaze was focused on something in the distance, as if she did not truly see the slick pavement or the late-flowering tulips bowed heavy with rain. Jareth wondered what she saw when her eyes had that faraway look. Many things about her had changed but this had not, and for that he was glad.

"Ever and always the dreamer." he said aloud.

But she had not dreamed her way back to him. There were nights when she'd come close, Jareth thought.

He'd been sitting in his study, reading by firelight during that elusive hour well after midnight but before dawn. There'd been no sound, no warning except that imperceptible tug on the farthest reach of his mind, like a silver needle pulling along the thread of his thoughts after it.

The book dropped from his hand and Jareth was at the window before he could even think of what it might be. When he finally realized who called him, he hadn't slept all night.

It had been so for years now, often enough that it no longer caught Jareth by surprise. He came to expect it, knowing that if the night was clear and the moon high, he could wing his way to her and settle himself in the oak tree outside her window. He watched and waited, nothing more. His power over Sarah was over, but he always knew when she was thinking about him.

The Goblin King was not a patient man. It was a virtue he'd learned with time.

He cupped the globe in his bare hands to better see, even though he'd already memorized every detail. Scarcely a day went by that he did not look upon her. There were times she almost seemed aware of him watching, but Jareth doubted this. If Sarah had known, she would not have spoken so lightly or openly as she stood alone in the kitchen.

_So wishes do not come true, do they?_

He laughed and the crystal danced in the air before him, revolving slowly like a small planet. As if she heard, Sarah started a little from her reverie, looking around her as if she wasn't quite sure where she was. When the moment passed, she got up from her window seat, quickly drawing the curtains closed. More lights went on inside the house, and Jareth could see her slender silhouette cross the window once, twice... and then she was gone.

One and twenty years. It seemed so few, but she was an adult by mortal standards. And yet she still believed in some of the most childish things... Like the belief that the light could keep away all the things that haunted her.

Jareth permitted himself a slight smile. He knew better.

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_Comments/reviews welcome._

**Author's Note:**_ This is the first of four parts. _


	2. Part Two

**_Recap: _**_Sarah is twenty-one years old, spending a quiet night at home alone on the anniversary of the night she made that fateful wish..._

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Sarah felt strongly that there were few problems that Szechaun pork and fried rice could not solve. But as she scraped the congealing sauce from her plate back into the take-out box, she admitted there was a first time for everything-- including the failure of Chinese food to cure all one's ills. Merlin did not agree, and begged shamelessly for a fried won ton.

"You've had three," lectured Sarah, "And my egg roll, too. You _know_ what happened last time, Merlin. Do you want to be banished to the garage for a week when Karen finds out?"

Tongue hanging out as he lolled upon on the floor, Merlin was unrepentant. His weakness for fried food was well known, but unlike his owners, he was not a dog to be troubled by trivial issues like a delicate gastro-intestinal system.

Sarah sighed and stabbed the last won ton with her chopsticks. "Half. And then that's it. Plus you're sleeping in the laundry room tonight just in case."

Sniffing eagerly, the sheepdog drooled on her hand to show his agreement to the terms. The tidbit disappeared in a flurry of chewing.

Sarah scratched him behind the ears. "If you get fat, you'll have no one to blame but yourself, greedy thing."

Merlin's enthusiastic enjoyment suggested that the loss of a svelte figure was a small price to pay. When the food was gone, he looked mournfully up at his owner, but Sarah was already in the kitchen, putting the leftovers into the fridge.

"Almost midnight, Merlin."

The dog whined in protest.

"Come on, now. One more drink of water and it's off to the laundry room for you."

Setting down Merlin's water bowl on the floor beside the washing machine, Sarah nudged the dog into the room and closed the door behind him. His claws scrabbled on the wood and she could see the black tip of his nose poking out from beneath the door.

"It's for your own good," she argued, "And remember, you _agreed_ to this."

Merlin's nose retreated and she could hear him flop against the door with a soft thump.

"That's a good boy."

Stretching and yawning, Sarah went in search of her book, intending to snuggle down on the living room sofa and read until she fell asleep. She'd borrowed her brother's copy of Watership Down, and she was just past the part about the raid on Nuthanger farm. Reading about Hazel, Fiver, and all the other rabbits never failed to draw her into the story, as if she could see the meadows and bridle paths of the English countryside right in front of her. It was the perfect way to lose herself on a night like this.

Looking under couch cushions and beneath the coffee table, she frowned.

_I could've sworn it was right here._

Had she left it up in her room? Sarah hesitated at the bottom of the stairs, hand on the railing. She was almost certain she'd left the light on in her bedroom, but the upstairs hallway was dark. A piece of paper lay on the seventh step as if it had been left for her to find.

Though her instincts warned her not to look, Sarah couldn't help herself. It was the page of a book.

_Part One: The Journey_

_The primroses were over. Toward the edge of the wood, where the ground became open and sloped down to an old fence and a brambly ditch beyond, only a few fading patches of pale yellow still showed...  
_

The paper fluttered from her hands. Toby's copy had been brand new and the page could not have loosened itself. She was sure it hadn't been lying on the stairs earlier. Sarah glanced at the upstairs hallway again, but there wasn't a single sound or movement.

_I could end this now. I could go downstairs and lock myself in the study until morning._

But she did not. Instead, Sarah retrieved the slip of paper and mounted the stairs, skipping the fourth step that creaked under the slightest pressure. The door to her bedroom was slightly ajar and the first thing she saw was Watership Down lying on her desk. She picked it up and slipped the torn out page back inside. A quick glance around the room told her that things were not as she'd left them. Someone had tidied her papers and pencils, the stack of textbooks had all been straightened and the spines lined up precisely.

The curtains were all pulled to one side and moonlight streamed through the open window, laying down a white path across the bedroom floor. She walked over it, shivering as the cool air hit her skin. The storm had moved on, and now she could only see the flashes of heat lightning miles off as it lit up the clouds all gold and gray.

Sarah meant to close the window but she stood silently, book held tight against her chest as she looked at the clearing sky. It was a familiar sight to her. She'd stood there many a night, waiting to see if some dark shape would flit across the face of the moon.

It never had.

When she finally turned away, a pale outline caught her eye and Sarah gasped. It was only moonlight glancing off her dresser mirror.

"Stupid." Sarah whispered, "What did you expect?"

As she was about to retreat back to the safety of the living room, a lean figure separated from the shadows in the corner of her room. It was his eyes she saw first, wintery blue and gleaming like embers. He wore the dark as easily as if it were a mantle, but as he moved it unfurled like wings.

Sarah froze, book in hand.

"It would seem," said the Goblin King, "That we are destined to keep meeting like this."

Ignoring her alarmed expression, he crossed the room and seated himself at her desk as if he intended to stay.

_He hasn't changed at all,_ thought Sarah.

Still the same graceful movements of his gloved hands, hair so fair the moonlight looked like common brass beside it. Still the same eyes. The last time she'd seen him, he'd been dressed all in white and grey, the palest of lavenders streaking his sleeves.

Now he wore a shade of blue so deep it was nearly black. Silver threads glinted from the folds of his cloak, and hanging from his neck was the heavy triangular pendant with its curving gold mark in the center.

Sarah realized she was gripping the book so hard it was dog-earing the corners, so she forced herself to put it down.

"Why are you here?"

Jareth shook his head reprovingly. "You know what night this is, Sarah."

She did, there was no use pretending. Sarah would never forget the day she'd returned from the Labyrinth, no matter how many years passed.

"That doesn't mean anything."

"On the contrary, it means everything-- and I have been a long time waiting." Jareth brushed an invisible speck of dust from his sleeve. "But I must confess, I rather expected you to come to me."

_He's still arrogant as ever._ But even so, Sarah was finding it difficult to breathe or look away.

She tried to match his nonchalant tone. "And why would I do that?"

"To claim what is yours, of course." The Goblin King paused, idly examining the contents of her desk drawer, "Your other two wishes."

He was teasing her, Sarah was sure of it. It was in the way he looked at her from the corner of his eye as he toyed with her favorite drawing pencil, spinning it between finger and thumb like a helicopter blade. But this time, she could refuse to play his game.

"I didn't realize I had any."

The Goblin King tsked reprovingly. "Don't you remember the stories, Sarah? Everyone knows that wishes come in threes. The first was wishing your brother away to my Labyrinth-- poorly spent, some might say. However, it is hardly my place to judge."

Sarah folded her arms across her chest. "I don't believe in fairy tales any more, Goblin King. I think you're making that up."

"I wouldn't dare. Rules are rules, after all... but even wishes will not keep forever. You did not come to claim them, so I have come to you."

"Wishes have an expiration date?" she asked incredulously.

Jareth shrugged amiably. "Just so."

"I could forfeit them."

"You could. But most people would never be able to live with themselves. They'd always wonder," he said, waving the pencil in the air in an exaggeratedly grand gesture, "What might have been."

_Damn him,_ Sarah fumed. It was true. She _would_ wonder. He seemed so confident, arm draped over the back of her chair with his boots propped up on the desk. Yet the soft drumming of his fingertips on top of her history text betrayed him. He was anxious, too.

"What could I wish for?"

Jareth looked back at her with half-lidded eyes, all his mirth and good humor suddenly vanished. His hands stilled briefly, then he reached out and plucked a crystal from the air. He held it for a moment, then sent it wafting to her with a practiced movement. His face was unreadable.

"Anything you desire."

The entire room hummed with electricity, but so quietly that Sarah could hear the drip of rain off the oak leaves outside her window. Downstairs, the hall clock chimed midnight and she held her breath, almost expecting a thirteenth tolling of the bell.

The crystal hovered in the air before her, clear as glass but its surface shimmering opalescent with every color of the rainbow. Sarah held out her hand and it drifted closer, but danced just out of reach.

_Anything..._

"Then I could go back. I could see the Labyrinth again."

Though the storm had passed, thunder rumbled from far in the distance. It rolled like a gentle wave over the town, falling away to a rushing murmur as if it, too, were waiting for something to happen.

Jareth leaned forward in the chair, all casual pretense gone. "Almost. Say the right words."

At the open window, the curtains fluttered and whipped in the wind. Heat lightning flashed across the night sky again, closer this time so that the whole room lit up a brilliant white for a few seconds, then left them in darkness once more.

Sarah took a deep breath. _No turning back now._ "I wish to see the Labyrinth again."

At her words, the crystal leapt to her hand eagerly as if it belonged. As soon as she touched it, her room disappeared, the walls collapsing like a house of cards. Sarah didn't even have time to scream before she was flung out into space, the stars blinding bright and the darkness between them infinite and eternal.

Her thoughts unraveled like thread, spinning away from her at the speed of light until nothing was left. Time lost all meaning. Sarah imagined herself trapped in that prism of space, floating far above the world where the earth was suspended like a blue-green pearl against the black.

She could not see him, but the Goblin King's hand closed firmly over her own, so hard that it hurt.

"Close your eyes, Sarah."

The discomfort brought her back. It was difficult, but the Goblin King would not be disobeyed. Sarah shut her eyes and remembered who she was.

He spoke low and reassuringly in her ear. "That's right. Do not look, not yet."

Jareth's hold upon her relaxed, and with some surprise she realized he was not wearing his gloves. His fingers were interlaced with her own, bare skin upon skin. It was the only sensation of body she had in this place; the rest of her felt weightless, completely buoyant. Sarah sighed. It would be so easy to let it go, let everything she was scatter like a fistful of sand in the wind.

Jareth wouldn't let her. His touch anchored her to the here and now.

"We must travel a very long way in a short amount of time, Sarah," said the Goblin King, "In a manner of speaking. It might prove to be... difficult. Do you trust me?"

"Do I have a choice?" To her own ears, her voice sounded thin, whipped away by the wind as quickly as they left her lips.

Sarah felt the laughter in his reply.

"There's always a choice. You could still say no and I would take you back to your bedroom, safe and sound."

_Safe and sound. _It was a tempting thought. This was more than Sarah had bargained for, after all. Merlin was home alone, and if anything should happen to her there'd be no one to look after him for days. But if she turned back now...

"No. I've chosen, and now you have to keep up your end of the bargain."

Jareth squeezed her hand a little tighter. "As you wish. Don't open your eyes for any reason, Sarah. I promise, you will be perfectly safe as long as you do not let go of my hand."

She nodded and braced herself. She wouldn't have let go of his hand anyway, but there was no need to tell him that.

"I'm ready."

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_Comments/reviews welcome. _

_**Author's Note: **Part two of four. _


	3. Part Three

**Recap:** _When the Goblin King appears in her bedroom, he tells Sarah that she has two more wishes to make-- whatever she desires. Her second wish is to see the Labyrinth again, and it is a wish with unexpected consequences.  
_

* * *

The journey seemed to last forever and no time at all. If Sarah had to describe it, she would have said it was like sleep; it was that last meandering thought after your eyes close and before you wake in the morning, where hours pass in slow step but register only a single moment. Her memory of it changed each time she tried to recall it. One day she would recall seeing vast plains and oceans flying beneath them in a blur. Another day, it seemed more like standing still while the sun and moon rose and fell a thousand times, a fiery chariot racing after the pearl of heaven. 

The first thing that she knew was real was the air growing warmer until she could feel the sun on her face, a dry mistral of a wind battering her body.

"Now," said the Goblin King, "Open your eyes."

They stood in that bleak waste just outside the Labyrinth wall, the ground cracked and stands of tall grass flattened in clumps here and there. Hoggle was nowhere to be seen but the gate loomed above, looking even more ancient than it did before. Nearly twice as high as she was tall, the wood was weathered grey with age and overgrown with wild vines. Thorny tendrils clung to its surface so closely it seemed almost a part of the gate itself, veins running beneath the skin. Many-petaled blossoms grew on the vine, white and glittering as frost.

Sarah swayed on her feet. After all this time, it was like she'd never left...

"Aren't you going to go in?"

The Goblin King stood beside her, watching. He leaned casually against the Labyrinth wall with a flower in hand, twining the stem between his fingers. Sarah wondered if he was laughing at her again, but if he was, Jareth was doing a remarkable job of masking it.

She looked back at the gate. _How do I get inside?_

An errant breeze swept across the clearing where they stood, filling the air with the sound of tiny silver bells. Sarah looked closer at the flowering vines and saw that each blossom trembled. When the last note faded away they fell to dust, all the save the one Jareth still held in his hand. The vines unfurled and drew back from the join of the gate with a dry, crackling sound, littering the ground with leaves of gold and green.

As Sarah watched, the doors swung open with a shuddering groan, but the way beyond was hidden in the swirling mists.

She turned to the Goblin King. "Did you do that?"

Jareth shook his head and fastened the flower in her hair. "The gate will always open for you now."

He offered no further explanation.

"Where does it lead?" Sarah looked down at where blue-grey curls of smoke drifted across the threshold.

The Goblin King looked at the dark gate and back to her. He held out his hand in invitation.

"Wherever you want it to lead."

_It could be a trick. All of it, the wishes, seeing the Labyrinth again..._ Sarah strained to see further into the mist and shadows, but could make out nothing-- no oubliette, no trapdoor, not even another wall. _This is crazy._

"Someday," said the Goblin King with a bemused look, "You _will_ learn to trust me, Sarah."

Sarah took his hand, but the last thought she had before they stepped through the gate was, _Not bloody likely._

* * *

The mist and fog parted before them and Sarah realized she was looking down at the clouds from above. The dizzying sensation of being suspended in air with nothing beneath made her gasp and clutch at Jareth's arm. Almost immediately, he swept up the sides of his cloak and wrapped it around them both tightly. 

He was, Sarah realized in embarrassment, very close. Braced against his chest, the top of her head reached just past Jareth's chin and his arms encircled her waist from behind. When her cheek brushed his, Sarah started forward a little only to find herself firmly held in place. One hand slid across her thigh and hip as if by accident as he settled her closer, and Sarah fought to keep from squirming at the teasing contact.

The Goblin King's voice in her ear was low and seductive. "Was this not what you had in mind?"

He _was_ laughing, the bastard.

"Not... exactly."

Sarah was glad he couldn't see her face from this angle. It was her own fault, she supposed. She hadn't envisioned any particular place in the Labyrinth when she stepped through the gate, and maybe that was where it had all gone wrong. She'd simply wished to see... all of it.

From so high in the air, she certainly might.

The walls of the Labyrinth were tinted honey and apricot in the late afternoon light, wild roses softening its angles with a mist of green. All along the ramparts, white and crimson flowers opened to the sun. Where it first seemed so cold and barren, now it had come to life. In small courtyards were water fountains casting their diamond spray up in gentle arcs to fall upon the grass. Willows ringed a pool where fish as long as Sarah's arm flashed blue-silver as they darted in and out of the shallows.

She _could _see it all. There was the first turn, where the worm's house was. And there, the hedge maze where she'd found Ludo. Sarah thought she could see a small person stumping along the lilac border spraying something, but she doubted Hoggle would be able to hear her from so far off. They were moving so quickly that she didn't even have a chance to call out, and soon his stooped figure disappeared.

Sarah looked back. The tallest spires of the castle were just visible as the gleaming roof tiles caught the sun, and she wondered which of them had been the strange room with all the stairways and doors that led to nothing and nowhere. She wasn't sure she wanted to ask the Goblin King about it just yet.

"If you keep wriggling around like that," said Jareth in her ear, "I may well drop you. That would be a rather abrupt end to your sightseeing."

Sarah clutched at him in panic before she realized he was teasing. It was unlikely she would fall. He was holding her far too tightly.

_No,_ thought Sarah after a while. _Not too tight, really. _

She could still breathe. A little.

With so little space between them, Sarah could feel his heart beating against her back, steady and even. There was no tension in the way he held her, it was all ease and familiarity, as if he belonged there and she with him.

She cleared her throat hesitantly. "I want to thank you for all of this. You didn't have to come with me."

Jareth laughed. "Purely self-preservation, dear girl. You have a way of visiting inconvenient destruction on my property if left unattended. Though I must compliment your choice of transportation-- rather dramatic, but delightfully intimate."

"I didn't wish for this part!"

_Oh, didn't you?_

The voice in her heard sounded so much like the Goblin King that it stunned Sarah into mute outrage. Jareth took advantage of her confusion and pulled her even closer yet, burying his face in her hair. He made a throaty noise of satisfaction almost like a purr, and if Sarah had been standing, she would've collapsed right then and there.

"What _is_ that enchanting fragrance you're wearing?"

She replied without thinking. "Soy sauce."

"It suits you."

Furious with herself, Sarah ground her teeth. If she didn't know any better, she would've sworn he was enjoying himself. Once again, the Goblin King seemed almost to read her thoughts.

"And how are you enjoying my Labyrinth now, Sarah?"

_Not exactly a piece of cake,_ she thought in exasperation. _Kind of like its king. _Half a dozen sarcastic responses sprung to mind, but in the end she answered honestly.

"It's the most beautiful place in the world."

They both fell silent for a while. The air rushed past them, and if not for the Goblin King's arms around her, Sarah might have felt the cold.

She squeezed his hand tenatively to catch his attention. "Where will we go next?"

"Choose."

To the east was a dense forest that stretched for miles and on the edge of it was a scattering of oaks and copper-leafed birch with a stream running along one side. White stone gleamed through the branches and sunlight glimmered off the water.

"There."

_Be careful what you wish for._

The descent was quick. Too quick. Jareth shielded her face with the corner of his cloak as they plummeted through the tree canopy, snapping twigs and sending leaves flying upwards in their wake. All too soon the ground rose up beneath their feet and Sarah landed with a jolt, rolling a few times to land disconcertingly flat on her back with the Goblin King squarely on top of her.

"You did that on purpose!" she gasped, trying to elbow him in the ribs.

To her dismay, he only shifted his weight forward, pinning her to the ground. Jareth was completely unruffled by their fall-- not a single hair on his head was out of place. Their faces were mere inches apart.

"Your accusations are unfounded. It was a simple miscalculation, that is all."

"The hell it was!"

"I am not used to making a forest landing in this form, and certainly not while carrying a passenger," he said with a pointed look, "As neither of us are injured, I would say there was little harm done."

In no great hurry to rise, he plucked a leaf from Sarah's shirt and smoothed back some stray strands of hair from her forehead. His fingertips lingered there at her temple, and he leaned forward to drop a feather-light kiss at the corner of her mouth. It happened so quickly she could almost dismiss it as another accident. Rolling off her and onto his feet in one graceful movement, the Goblin King brushed the dirt from his breeches. Sarah just gaped at him in disbelief until he gallantly offered her a hand up.

"Shall we explore, then?"

_He really is going to do it,_ Sarah thought in amazement. _He's going to pretend it didn't happen, and that a second ago, he wasn't lying on top of me in the woods. _

She let him pull her to her feet. _And he's so convincing that if I didn't have the bruises on my ass to show for it, I would almost believe him._

Standing shakily, Sarah looked around the clearing. Only a few feet away, the stream cut deep and wide across the forest floor. Water-weed growing on the rock trailed in the current, and between their slippery strands were pebbles flecked with gold and silver. The trees arched their slender limbs overhead like the high vaulted ceilings of a cathedral, moss hanging from the lower branches. But what drew Sarah's eye was in the center of the clearing: a row of six immense figures carved of ivory-colored stone, each one standing straight as a column.

Three times the size of a human being, they were nearly as tall as the trees themselves. Sarah could not tell if they were male or female. Wind and water had worn away their faces until all distinguishing features were lost; one could discern the outlines and no more. Clad in loose robes that hung to their ground, their palms were raised as if to clasp a bowl or chalice. Birds nested in the cradled hands now, their swift, darting shapes swooping in and out of the clearing.

"Who are they?"

Jareth smoothed the creases from his cloak, suddenly somber. "They are the Witnesses."

Sarah gazed upon the one nearest her and the way lichen grew upon its serene face like the tracks of tears.

"What do they witness?"

He shrugged. "Everything."

The words were casual, but his tone was not. There was more to the stone figures than Jareth was telling her. Stepping forward, Sarah went to examine them more closely. No grass grew upon the ground at the base of the columns. No stray twig or leaf fell in that empty space, so there was nothing to stumble on-- but stumble she did, as if some ghostly hand reached out to grab her ankle.

"Careful."

The Goblin King caught her just as she pitched forward, but didn't release her once she was back on her feet. Tension showed in every line of his face and he moved between her and the Witnesses, half-shielding them from her view. He had not, Sarah realized with a blush, let go of her hand... nor did he seem inclined to do so.

"It would be unwise to go any nearer," he said, "I should not like to see anything happen to you."

"Wouldn't you?" It was a challenge.

The Goblin King sighed deeply. "You know I wouldn't."

She glanced up at him, at how the sunlight dappled his fair hair, the grave set of his chin and mouth. But this time, Sarah truly _looked._

Gone was her adversary, the dark king of dreams and shadows. Maybe he had never existed.

In his place was a man who followed her from one world to the next and stood before her now, the pressure of his fingers steady upon her wrist. Faint lines crinkled at the corners of his eyes when he smiled at her. When she moved away, his hands stretched out involuntarily as if Jareth could not bear to let her go.

_He would never say the words, _she thought then. _He's not that kind of man. I shouldn't expect him to be._

When she was a girl and full of romantic dreams, that would've angered and disappointed her, but they didn't now. His eyes were all the speech she needed, they expressed everything he could not say.

They said simply,_ I am yours._

* * *

_Comments/reviews welcome. _

_**Author's Note: **Part three of four. __  
_


	4. Part Four

**Recap:**_The Labyrinth gates open to Sarah, and she and the Goblin King find themselves flying high above it. With her former adversary holding her close, she finds herself surprisingly at ease with Jareth. But when they land in a wooded clearing before the Witness stones, everything changes. This is the fourth and final part of the story.  
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_**Warning:** There is some mature content in this chapter. Please do not read further if you might be offended._

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"I have one last wish, Goblin King." said Sarah, letting go of his hand. 

Jareth folded his cloak around him tightly, as if the warm breeze chilled him. "You have only to name it."

The light in his eyes died quickly, like the shuttering of a window. For a moment, he looked so unhappy that she wanted to throw her arms around his neck and hold him fiercely. But the Goblin King recovered quickly and Sarah ached to see the cool mask drop into place once more.

It wasn't right, what she'd done. Her words had bound him from the very beginning, before Sarah ever saw him. It had always been her desires, her dreams that mattered. He'd labored to fulfill them, even the ones she didn't know she wanted. Even the dreams she didn't dare speak aloud.

He did it all, unquestioning and unstinting, even though it had nearly destroyed him. Guilt prickled her, and Sarah bit her lip. Jareth was right. He'd been generous, and she'd taken everything.

_It's not fair. But I can make it right. I could give it back._

Sarah shook her head.

"No. I mean... It's yours. That's what I wish, that you have your heart's desire. Whatever it might be."

His expression was wary, brow furrowed in caution. "You are certain, Sarah? There can be no taking it back if you change your mind. Not here."

The clearing had fallen quiet now with not even the wind stirring a single leaf on the trees. Looming above them, the Witness stones stood as silent sentinels, sunlight piercing the cool shade around them.

Sarah took a deep breath. "I won't change my mind."

_You are free, Goblin King. __Come what may._

His entire body relaxed then, a slow triumph that crept over him like the sun slipping from behind the clouds.

"Then this is what I want."

Jareth stepped forward, fingertips beneath her chin and his thumb brushing the fullness of her lower lip before he bent eagerly to taste it. This time it was no accident. Her mouth opened up to his as they clung to one another, and Sarah slid her hand between the push of their bodies, over his rapidly beating heart to where the pulse fluttered at the base of his throat. The Goblin King's skin was fever-hot and he smelled like a summer day after the rain. Reaching down, she tugged his shirt loose and let her fingertips wander over the smooth flat of his stomach, then down to the hard muscle of his thighs.

At her touch, he groaned softly against her mouth. Unbuttoning her sweater, Jareth slipped it to the ground with growing impatience and ran his hands down the curve of her back, cupping her buttocks to mold her more closely against him. It was so easy to yield she didn't even think about it, bracing herself on his shoulders and wrapping her legs around his waist.

Pleasant warmth began to build low in her belly, and Sarah closed her eyes. There was nothing else in the moment except her fingers twined in Jareth's hair at the base of his neck to pull him deeper into the kiss. He moved away briefly only to begin again on her throat, biting down lightly at the join of her neck and shoulder. Sarah gasped, involuntarily locking her legs tighter around his body. It was sweeter than she'd imagined, and she admitted to herself now that she _had _imagined it, all urgency and aching demand that went exquisitely on without end.

But this wasn't a dream, and it couldn't last forever.

When he let her go, the disappointment was almost painful. She raised the back of her hand to her mouth, still feeling the pressure of his embrace as if it'd left an imprint on everything he touched. Jareth moved away a little distance. With the sun behind him, she couldn't see his face.

"Is that all you wanted?" she asked. She didn't know what she would do if he said yes.

The Goblin King laughed, fiercely happy. He caught Sarah up in his arms once more, spinning her in a dizzy circle before setting her down again. His kisses were gentler this time, grazing her forehead and cheek and never seeming to settle in one place until he reached her mouth. There, he lingered.

"No," Jareth said at last when she demanded to be let up for air, "This is only the beginning."

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**An Epilogue of Sorts **

"... before the Witness stones," said Agnes knowingly, "You know what that means, my dears."

The goblins who crowded close around her to listen nodded, but the Junk Lady looked at the sea of vacant eyes and shook her head in disgust. Bending down, she rummaged around in her bag for another ball of yarn.

"Not a clue among the lot," she muttered, "I've seen creatures with more smarts growing on the undersides of logs."

The goblins guffawed until they collapsed on the floor as if she'd told the world's funniest joke. It was an irritating habit of theirs, but she could hardly blame them. It was what they'd been trained to do. Retrieving her yarn, she sniffed.

"No wonder he's kicked you all out of the castle."

_Well,_ she amended silently, _That wasn't the only reason. _

But there was no use trying to explain _that_ to the goblins, either. The Junk Lady shrugged and began another story, one about a lonely king and the girl who set him free. It began with 'Once upon a time' and had lots of adventures, just the kind of tale that goblins liked best.

Come to think of it, it was the same story each time. Agnes' knitting needles clicked in perfect rhythm as something that resembled a tiny sock grew another row of neat stitches. But it wasn't as simple as all that.

There were stories and there were _stories, _she mused thoughtfully. Some ended the way you'd expect and some didn't, but when all was said and done and everything was stripped down to the bare bones, maybe the oldest tales were the still the best, and the finest endings were the ones you knew from the very beginning.

Agnes began another row and looked over her audience who sat rapt with attention, waiting for the last line. She took a deep breath and nodded.

"... and they lived happily ever after."

**The End**

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_Comments/reviews welcome. _

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**Author's Notes: ** Any complaints about the saccharine sweetness and/or unbelievability of this story will be met with unsympathetic agreement and possibly a full disavowal of authorship. You were, after all, warned.  
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